The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
water and land to Soerabaja, where thirteen of the original seventeen
planes had arrived by 2 5 January. For five days thereafter the squadron
remained a t Soerabaja, engaging in flights and other activities de-
signed to acquaint the pilots with the peculiar problems of local air
defense. T w o days before the Japanese opened the attack on Java the
17th had occupied its permanent base a t Blimbing. The field, some-
times known as Ngoro, had two 4,000-foot runways surfaced with
smooth sod. Taxiways, offering natural advantages for camouflage,
were cut into the surrounding jungle.6o
When the Japanese attacked Soerabaja on 3 February, no other
American pursuit planes were nearer than Darwin. The second pro-
visional pursuit squadron to be activated in Australia, the zoth, had
received orders on 24 January to move with eighteen P-40’s to Port
Moresby, a key point in defense of the approaches to northeastern
Australia. This order undoubtedly reflected the concern of Allied
officials over the Japanese occupation of Rabaul, which had been ef-
fected the preceding day and which gave a new urgency to the prob-
lem of providing for the security of sea and air routes joining Australia
to the United States. Within another three days, however, the fall of
Kendari had emphasized the immediate urgency of the need in Java,
and in accordance with representations f r o d General Brett the orders
were changed. The 20th would move up to Darwin and thence would
proceed to Java.61 But it was 4 February before thirteen of its pilots,
most of whom had reached Australia during January as personnel of
the 35th Pursuit Group, lifted their P-40’s from a field at Darwin and
under the escort of a B-24 headed for Timor. This leg of the flight,
difficult enough for the short-range P-40 even under the best of con-
ditions, on that day presented the additional hazard of tropical thunder-
storms. The planes got through to Koepang, however, and on the
following day twelve of them were able to proceed to Bali.6z
Fearing a Japanese attack on the field there, Captain Lane ordered
his planes into the air as soon as they had been refueled. When seven
of them had taken off, approximately twenty enemy planes were
spotted overhead; three other P-40’S then hastily took off; and all were
immediately engaged by the enemy. Lt. Gene L. Bound destroyed an
enemy plane, but his own was so badly shot up that he had to bail out.
Lts. William L. Turner and C.L. Reagan were forced into crash land-
ings, the former having previously shot down one of the enemy. Lt.
Larry D. Landry was killed early in the flight, and Lt. Paul B.
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